It is the dark and grim future. Terra’s plan is to kill every living thing in the Universe to protect the home world. See where your tour of duty in the 3:16th Expeditionary Force takes you and your friends. Revel in the kill-happy machismo and enjoy a campaign of Carnage Amongst The Stars.

This is a game about the dark future. You play a marine in Terra’s Expedition force. Why you signed on is up to you, but you do one thing and one thing only. Protect humanity by any means necessary from the evils of aliens.

Outfitted with the best gear and armor, you and your squad may be the only thing standing in between victory or annihilation.

This is a game I was thinking of running, and I think it would be a lot of fun either PBP or on the chat room. The mechanics are very simple, I mean as easy as it gets. Character creation takes less than ten minutes, and that’s a good thing because survival isn’t exactly guaranteed.

What I was wondering was, is there any interest for this type of game? It is a game of combat, but role-playing is a must! It is open ended, so the players can take control of the story where they see fit, filling in details and such that the GM would normally do. It is a story of slow realization of soldiers, caught up in a war they don’t understand, slowly realizing that maybe the side they are fighting for isn’t exactly the good guys!

Vrakkkk-kkkk-kkkkk. Corporal Tollman’s Energy Cannon converted
the group of rapidly approaching creatures into a cloud of swirling
space dust. Vrakkkk-kkkk-kkkkk. Another group, and another,
and another. The cannon’s gunnery computer was beeping into
Tollman’s earphones at a rapid tempo. These little green bastards
were getting murdered. The Kill Counter on top of the cannon
increased by the millisecond. Impassively counting the carnage.
The rhythmic beeping was trance-like and hypnotic.

Vra-wheeeeeeee. The energy beam sheared off, missing the target
and detonating a pile of rocks instead. Suddenly, from all around
little green men raced closer and closer. Tollman’s mind flashed
back to a time long before…

Tollman was 10 and they’d been playing The Game. In The Game
you went into this really dark cave. All the other kids were there with
sticks and stones. They poked, prodded, bashed and
frightened you while you tried to make it to the back
of the cave. You had to get there, overcoming your fear
and panic, and grab some moss, slick and wet to touch,
from the very furthermost cave wall. Then you had to
run over the wet floor of the cave avoiding the tripping
feet and thrown rocks to break out into the light.
If you did that then they let you join their gang. It had taken
Tollman five or six attempts to get to the back of that cave. But
when she did she had learned not to panic or be frightened even
when the unexpected happened. She was cool under pressure and
had learnt to keep it simple. It was something that had served her
well in the Expeditionary Force.

“Never panic, it’ll get you dead.” A strength.

Back to the present Tollman lowered the cannon and swept a
series of ravening beams of energy through the fast-approaching
hordes. They fell into clouds of dust. Motes drifting intricately
through the alien atmosphere of this hell-hole of a planet.
Vrakkkk-kkkk-kkkkk. The last little green bastard evaporated into
a cloud of constituent atoms. The Kill Counter stopped at 97. The
tip of the cannon was glowing white hot and the whine of the
cooling fans was the only sound left. The encounter was over.
Sergeant Brand looked over the top of the trench, “Corporal,
status?”

“All Clear, Sergeant. A series of trenches ahead and then we’re done
here. After that,” she paused, “it’s not so certain.”
Brand nodded at the Lieutenant next to him in the trench. The first
hurdle had been cleared

“Tired Of Life? Join The Expeditionary Force
And See The Cosmos.”—Recruitment Advert

Paradise is reality.

When the Council formed the Expeditionary Forces they found
it easy to recruit. After all they offered a life of excitement and
adventure. See the cosmos, travel and live life to the full. Don’t drop
yourself in a suicide booth, serve your fellow Terrans by joining the
Force. Child permits were raised as necessary to meet the demand,
and everyone rejoiced in the plan.

Later recruiting posters featured wholesome troopers drinking
cocktails on a cosmic beach on the edge of known space – an ideal
that many wanted to live. Terrans had a taste for this glamourous
promise. So they sought adventure in the Force.

For years they have recruited Terrans for the Expeditionary Forces
and sent troopers out into space. The players all play characters
that joined the elite 3:16th unit. The 16th Brigade of the 3rd Army.
These characters will experience a series of events strung across
the vastness of the cosmos. And perhaps one day they will return
to Terra.

That is 3:16.

KayeoticNeutral

09-10-2009, 07:53 AM

How do you create a character for this game? Is there a D20 system to it? Are the stats like DND? Is it more like Cyberpunk or... how does it work? If you can walk me through the character process and gameplay, I will join and try to recruit others =P
--- Merged from Double Post ---
Oh and PS. This reminds me of both Mass Effect and Halo for some reason...

Looks like we have a decent-sized group going afterall =] Can't wait to put this in action, Marley!

Marley117

09-13-2009, 07:19 PM

I should be posting up the game thread either tomorrow or tuesday.

Necron99

09-14-2009, 08:19 PM

What weapons can you choose? I saw your PM but I don't have any of the books for the game.

Also, I don't know if this matters, but we roll 1d10 for every FA we have? Just wondering how KayeoticNeutral got 35 kills when the FA is 3. You can do rolls in the forum.

Marley117

09-14-2009, 10:22 PM

Well if you'd head on up to the play by post section under 3:16 Feet First Into Hell, that is us and our game. That is where the game will take place. The post 'Helljumpers' has all of the weapons in it. :) Don't worry. I made up all the weapons, changed them from the ones in the game.

http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12836

There is the link.

And the whole 35 for Kaye thing. She changed her FA. It was higher, but she lowered it to get more NFA. So it changed. Check out her (and your) character sheet in the thread 'Heads Up Marines'

http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12823

That is all the threads you really need. Plus the one with the video that sets up the mood. Anyway, tomorrow I will be posting the game thread there, and the game will officially begin.